Much has been made of Bruce Dern’s performance in the movie Nebraska (2013) and his well-deserved nomination for the Academy Award Best Actor Oscar. The poster for the film even features only a silhouette of his face. But the film is more than a Dern vehicle, with solid performances all around and great direction once again from Alexander Payne.
Nebraska , by screenwriter Bob Nelson, tells the story of Woody Grant (Dern), an aging man who believes he won a million dollars after receiving a magazine seller’s announcement about a sweepstakes. After Grant tries repeatedly to make the journey from Montana to Nebraska to claim his prize, his son, played by Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte, agrees to take him on the trip. Along the way, the family is reunited in Woody’s former hometown, where the past connects to the present and Grant’s son learns more about his family.
I am a fan of Payne’s movies like Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), and The Descendants (2011), and this black and white film portrays themes of family and aging in a genuine heartfelt way. Having grown up in Nebraska, Payne is able to find the humor and the heart of life in these “fly-over” states in a way that is respectful and honest. Having myself grown up in a small Midwestern town and having lived in various places, I always enjoy when a film honestly features a location outside of New York or Los Angeles. Even the names of the characters in Nebraska reflect the solidness of the heartland: Woody Grant, David Grant, Kate Grant, Ed Pegram, Aunt Martha, etc.
The often overlooked Dern gives a career performance here, but June Squibb as his foul-mouthed wife steals a number of scenes, earning her own Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Will Forte shows that he is more than a comic actor, and it is great to see Stacy Keach on screen again too.
Like Payne’s recent movie The Descendants, much of Nebraska centers on the connection between a family and the influence of money or property. While The Descendants showed off the beauty of Hawaii in glorious color, in Nebraska Payne and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael are able to reflect the beauty of the West and the plains only using black and white. As in most of his recent movies, Payne is also able to find a big heart at the middle of a mess.
Conclusion? Do not underestimate Nebraska as a small film because it is in black and white and because the reviewers focus on one performance. Nebraska may have the biggest heart of any movie released in 2013.
What Other Critics Are Saying Because Why Should You Trust Me? Rotten Tomatoes currently gives Nebraska a 91% critics rating and an 88% audience rating. Dan Jardine at Cinemania is one of the few critics who did not love the film, calling it likeable but “awfully formulaic on too many levels.” Chuck Koplinski at the Illinois Times claims that the director and Dern find “modest nobility” in the film.
What did you think of Nebraska? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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